Signs of slowdown in US housing

Update on the housing market - FYI
(link) Signs of slowdown in US housing By Christopher Swann in Washington Financial Times Published: March 24 2006 13:57 Last updated: March 24 2006 21:09
Sales of new US homes plunged 10.5 per cent last month, prices fell and the stock of unsold homes hit its highest level in 10 years, providing the clearest indications yet that the red-hot housing market may be cooling.
A big slowdown could prompt consumers to cut spending and boost savings. Such a shift could help reduce the current account deficit but at the cost of significantly slower growth.
New home sales slid to 1.08m, the fourth consecutive decline, and the price of new homes fell 3 per cent from a year ago. With a flood of new properties coming on to the market, at the present pace of sales, it will take 6.3 months to clear the backlog.
Economists have long been expecting a slowdown and some have predicted declines in prices. “New home sales are softening fast,” said Celia Chen, a housing expert at Economy.com. “Affordability has declined to a near 15-year low. Rising mortgage interest rates and rising house prices are constraining demand.”
Ian Morris, economist at HSBC, said: “Over the next 12 months we suspect a hard landing is more likely.” But there had been regional factors in the slowdown. Sales fell in the west but rose in the midwest and north-east.
The rising stock of unsold houses could lower prices still further. Research at HSBC suggests that seven months’ supply of unsold housing will mean a soft landing for the market. But if the figure rises towards nine months it will be a hard landing.

Hope I can say 'Only in Texas'

Bar Sweep Sparks Controversy (Link)
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission sent a message to bar patrons last week.

TABC agents and Irving police swept through 36 Irving bars and arrested about 30 people on charges of public intoxication. Agency representatives say the move came as a proactive measure to curtail drunken driving.

North Texans interviewed by NBC 5, however, worried that the sweep went too far.

At one location, for example, agents and police arrested patrons of a hotel bar. Some of the suspects said they were registered at the hotel and had no intention of driving. Arresting authorities said the patrons were a danger to themselves and others.

"Going to a bar is not an opportunity to go get drunk," TABC Capt. David Alexander said. "It's to have a good time but not to get drunk."

Dallas comedian Steve Harvey agreed with the Texas residents who said the arrests infringed on individual rights.

"If a guy's got a designated driver, go ahead and let him get toasted," Harvey told NBC 5.

Texas law states that inebriated individuals could be subjected to arrest anywhere for public intoxication. Harvey and other North Texans called the measure extreme.

"That seems to be an extreme case," one man said. "You are self-contained, in the hotel, you're not going in the streets, it seems a little ridiculous."

TABC officials said the sweep concerned saving lives, not individual rights. Harvey and others interviewed by NBC 5 said they believe drunken driving to be unacceptable, although Harvey wanted to confirm that the United States remains a free country.

"Freedom of drinking should always be allowed, and it is only American to let a guy get drunk where he wants to get drunk," Harvey said.

NASA Climatologist Speaks out about Administration’s Attempts to Silence Him

by Judd Legum, Faiz Shakir, Nico Pitney,Amanda Terkel and Payson Schwin americanprogressaction.org Monday, March 20, 2006 (link)
James Hansen, the head of NASA's top institute studying the climate and arguably the world's leading researcher on global warming, told CBS's 60 Minutes last night that the Bush administration is censoring what he can say to the public. As proof, Hansen displayed a 2004 email he received that read, "The White House [is] now reviewing all climate related press releases." Hansen believes global warming is accelerating, pointing to the melting Arctic and to Antarctica, where new data show massive loss of ice to the sea. "In my more than three decades in the government I've never witnessed such restrictions on the ability of scientists to communicate with the public," said Hansen. The White House disputes the science behind global warming. While Bush ignores the counsel of the world's leading scientists who warn of pending environmental disaster, he solicits the opinions of fiction author Michael Crichton who tells him the science on warming is underwhelming. The White House has also relied on the advice of oil industry lobbyist Philip Cooney who, while he worked on the Council on Environmental Quality, edited government climate reports to play down links between greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. Hansen explains the danger of the White House's ignorance: "If the ice sheets begin to disintegrate, what can you do about it? You can’t tie a rope around the ice sheet. You can’t build a wall around the ice sheets. It will be a situation that is out of our control."

So what would a nice gov't that can do nothing to stop the process do to keep us little people from freaking out? Lie to us and tell us that everything is fine while they tighten the noose on liberty, so that if/when the time comes that people realize what is actually happening, they (the gov't) can take full control and play God with peoples lives.

Huge Oil Spill in Alaska

As much as 798,000 gallons (second only to the Exxon Valdez spill) were spilled recently from a leak in the Alaskan pipeline. The breach was found by someone who heard a 'gurgling noise'.
Operators knew there was a leak 36 hours before they located it. (link)

With all the technology on the Alaskan pipeline, someone walking around sniffing and listening a day and a half after a leak is detected is the best way to find hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil?

"When The Levee Breaks..."

Some things that seem to go together.

When The Levee Breaks (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant/Memphis Minnie) http://www.led-zeppelin.com/EMl4.html

If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break, (X2)
When The Levee Breaks I'll have no place to stay.
Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan, (X2)
Got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home, Oh, well, oh, well, oh, well.
Don't it make you feel bad When you're tryin' to find your way home,
You don't know which way to go?
If you're goin' down South They go no work to do,
If you don't know about Chicago.
Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
Now, cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move.
All last night sat on the levee and moaned, (X2)
Thinkin' about me baby and my happy home.
Going, going to Chicago... Going to Chicago... Sorry but I can't take you...
Going down... going down now... going down....

Statement Number One: "The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

Statement Number Two: "To those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists, for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve."

The first statement is a quote from Hitler's right hand man, Hermann Goering, explaining at his war crimes trial how easily he and his fellow Nazis hijacked Germany's democratic government. The second statement is a quote from Bush's right hand man, John Ashcroft, defending the Patriot Act and explaining why dissent will no longer be tolerated in the age of terrorism.
http://www.furnitureforthepeople.com/actpat.htm

Patriot Act Passes, Few Americans Notice
http://kurtnimmo.com/?p=258

A fledgling alumni group headed by a former campus Republican leader is offering students payments of up to $100 per class to provide information on instructors who are "abusive, one-sided or off-topic" in advocating political ideologies.
http://www.civilrights.org/issues/education/details.cfm?id=39577
further reading: http://kurtnimmo.com/?p=263

Damn Liberals - they will destroy this country!
“There are 50,000 professors with the views of… [Colorado high school teacher] Jay Bennish, who are anti-American, they’re radicals, they identify with the terrorists, they think of them as freedom fighters. It’s a huge danger for the country,” - David Horowitz
http://kurtnimmo.com/?p=265

Quote and more on the history of Liberal bashing.
"Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear."
--Harry S. Truman http://signs-of-the-times.org/signs/editorials/signs20060303_SomeDaysareHarderThanOthers.php

Bush declares war on freedom of the press
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/blog/2006/03/bush_declares_war_on_freedom_o.html

That about sums it up.

Unsafe at any Speed

Students at Georgia State University recently made a film documenting their daring, brash, borderline crazy experiement - driving the speed limit. The film, titled "A Meditation on the Speed Limit" is intended to show the flaws in the system by following it. The students lined up four cars across all four lanes of I-285 in Georgia.

Going the speed limit quickly turned into a blockade, prompting angered drivers to honk, make obscene gestures, and even pass on the shoulder. Perhaps the scene with the biggest impact was captured by placing a camera on an overpass. What the camera saw was nothing . . . a barren highway . . . then, a horde of cars lead by the foursome practicing civil obedience.

The film brings to the forefront an issue that we are all aware of. Speed limits are ridiculous. Almost no one follows them, and if we did the nation would slow to a crawl. So why are they imposed? Money, of course. Speed limits allow municipalities to generate revenue.

We've been essentially brainwashed to believe that speed limits are imposed for our safety. But, what most people are unaware that a national speed limit went into effect not for reasons of safety, but because of the oil crisis of the 70's. The speed limit was intended to slow down drivers, making their vehicles more efficient and reducing the amount of oil the nation consumed. But, government quickly learned that they could profit off of the speed limits in the form of speeding tickets. When the oil crisis ended, they needed a reason to continue enforcing a speed limit (and writing tickets). Thus, the 'speed kills' campaign was born.

The 'speed kills' campaign is based on the premise that going faster causes more deaths. The goverment even created the insurance institute for highway safety to publish skewed facts to support the campaign. They show stats relating to increasing numbers of fatalities. However, the studies don't take into account the increased numbers of drivers on the road. The truth is, many states have raised the speed limit and actually seen a statistical decline in fatalities.

It's also important to note that raising or lowering speed limits do not have a significant effect on driving patterns. In fact, in 1992, the federal highway administration monitored over a 100 locations nationwide that increased their speed limit by as much as 15 mph. The results showed that, on average, drivers only increased their speeds by 1-2 mph. In other words, drivers tend to drive a speed that feels safe and comfortable, regardless of changes in the speed limit.

More info:

• page with data against the 'speed kills' propoganda (link)
• Safety by Education and Not Speed Enforcement (SENSE)
• California Connected (link)